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Cabo San Lucas Nightlife
How Do You Spell Cabo? P-A-R-T-Y!
Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos After DarkNightlife review by Sabrina Lear - March 2006
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Nikki Beach and The Passion Lounge and Nightclub
You’ll find the Cabo location of this internationally known club with its signature white teepees and lounge beds inside the Melia San Lucas Hotel on Medano Beach. A popular hang during the daytime, Nikki Beach also throws great themed and special events every month and offers a sophisticated ambiance at night. The house specials are mojitos and excellent sushi, with sexy music ranging from house and chill to global grooves… think Bobby Hughes, Audio Traffic, Café del Mar…. The latest from Nikki Beach at the Melia San Lucas is the Passion Lounge and Nightclub, sporting a separate lounge, nightclub, and VIP room, with super premium bar, live jazz Wednesdays and Sundays in the lounge (open 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.), and a DJ spinning the latest dance grooves in the club (open Thursday to Saturday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.). Look for the lanky - and gorgeous - Frenchman Jerome Dupuis of Nikki HQ, who has moved to Cabo with the goal of making Nikki and Passion one of the globe’s hottest destinations. Happy hour is 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. nightly.
Mambo Cafe is the place for live Latin-Caribbean and Latin pop in Cabo. Since opening over a year ago, Mambo Café has become the place for Latin dance rhythms, with 10-piece bands the standard at this large venue next to El Tesoro Los Cabos (formerly Plaza Las Glorias) on Boulevard Marina in downtown Cabo. Mambo Café features Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian and Caribbean bands playing mambo, salsa, merengue, cumbia, bachata and Latin pop. Closed Monday, Ladies Nights are Thursdays and Sundays, when ladies drink free from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Live bands play Friday and Saturday nights, expect a cover charge and lineups, this is a hugely popular dance club, especially on weekends. The Mambo Café group operates 10 other clubs all over Mexico; the Cabo location is the group’s newest. Doors open at 9 p.m., with sets starting around 10.
Sancho Panza Wine Bistro Restaurant & Night Club is set back from Cabo’s marina behind El Tesoro Los Cabos (formerly Plaza Las Glorias) on the Cabo marina in downtown Cabo San Lucas. It’s a Boomer hangout known for good food and wine, but it’s the live Latin jazz, blues, and Latin dance music that makes it a good alternative to the more boisterous clubs. Low key enough for conversation, with some of Cabo’s best musicians, including Daline Jones, a jazz singer who headlined at San Francisco’s Starlight Lounge, Sancho Panza provides a cool hangout for singles of a certain age to meet and mingle. The ambiance combines Picasso, Dali, and Miro-inspired décor with Cuban original art, a good supply of vintages (owner Ron Kleist pioneered fine wines in Cabo) and a premium bar in a casually upscale atmosphere. Live music sets begin at 8 p.m. nightly, with the kitchen closing at 11 p.m. The lineup of musicians changes frequently, and reservations are suggested.
Las Varitas
This high energy Mexican nightclub celebrated its fifth anniversary in early 2005, with the original La Paz location still going strong after more than two decades. Las Varitas features local acts and occasional top Latin rock bands, so you never know who’s playing. If you love Mexican and Latin rock like Los Enanitos Verdes, El Tri, Jaguares, Café Tacuba, Maldita Vencidad, Molotov, Mana, etc., Las Varitas is the place. Tuesday is Ladies Night, with no cover for ladies from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., and national drinks just $5 pesos and cerveza two for one until 11 p.m. DJ Terkko keeps the music coming, with emcee Don Pepo holding wacky contests and surprises. Cover is about $5 U.S.; the club opens at 10 p.m. and rocks until 3 or 4 a.m. Usually very crowded and popular with young Mexicans, Las Varitas is not a tourist hangout, so it’s best to go with Mexican friends and “libera tu expresion” in Las Varitas’ “zona prohibida.”
Also known the House of Shots, this indoor-outdoor hangout, open daily from 10 a.m. on the Cabo marina at Plaza Bonita, has a good DJ, dance floor, edible sushi, and a cool mix of locals warming up before club hopping. “Nowhere” is well known as one of Cabo’s top bars. The daily 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. happy hour packs ‘em in, and the action can go late, late, until 3 a.m. Tuesday is Ladies Night, with free national drinks and beer for women from 8 to 10 p.m. Nowhere has a great location on Cabo’s marina and is perfect for meeting new people to club with.
A more upscale décor and all that rock ‘n roll memorabilia makes the Hard Rock Café, fronting Plaza Bonita across from El Squid Roe, a favorite with the vanilla Boomer crowd. A restaurant-bar with tried and true Hard Rock food and drinks known the world over, the house band plays rock covers almost every night. Accented with plenty of brass and wood with that classic Hard Rock feel, it can be a great, albeit more sedate, place to party. Open 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., with a t-shirt boutique out front, and a pink ’57 Caddy over the entrance.
Don’t see the club or bar you’re looking for? Check back frequently for more nightlife coverage.
Gay Friendly Nightclubs
Now a decade old, the Rainbow Bar, Cabo’s only alternative nightclub, caters to gay and lesbian clientele and also draws a cool straight crowd. Gorgeous waiters, great drinks (try the house special the Mango Magico Margarita or their seriously good martini), good ambiance and prices, with a disco feel and techno music. Don’t go early, you’ll be disappointed, this club gets going around midnight, even though the doors are open from 4 p.m. Find this rainbow at the other side of the Cabo San Lucas marina, at Marina Cabo Plaza, past the Marina Fiesta Resort.
Karaoke
What’s Up?
If you must, you must at What’s Up where you’ll find an extensive selection of songs in English and Spanish, and a group of polished regulars at Cabo’s best karaoke club, across from Puerto Paraiso on Lazaro Cardenas. If you’re feeling brave, try a tune in Spanish. Cabo San Lucas Nightlife article continues.
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